Hello and Welcome!

Red House Books is going through a bit of a update!

I've always had a pretty clear vision of what I wanted this space to be but I've been detoured from my path by...lots and lost of other people's opinions and ways of doing things...

I'm committed to this little chunk of the interweb but I've also branched out into other places so! Now it's time to think of Red House Books as more of a hub of all things me! And Me is a hell of a lot of book love!

Stay tuned!

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Monday, January 2, 2012

Goodbye 2011! AKA Lots of updates and organization that you really don't have to read ;)

I know everyone is tired of reading (and writing?) end of the year / wrap up / old challenges / new challenges / 2012 goals posts, right?

That's what I thought!
Here's another one!
Ha!

Really though, a lot of what follows is just for my peace of mind so if you're already bored, go read a book instead!

I'm tying a more relaxed take on blogging in 2012. Still lots of content and hopefully some new excitement but no stress. If I don't post every day you won't hate me ;)

Some DOs for the coming year:
*NetGalley Read-A-Thons every 3rd month - in January, April, July and October -- might be hard to come up with new and exciting features each time but there will be read-a-thoning goodness going on!
NetGalley January is happening RIGHT NOW!

*LOTS of debut author content! I have a bunch of stuff scheduled - guest posts, feature posts, giveaways - should be a blast

*MORE REVIEWS! I'm really behind - like - a few months worth of books behind. I'm hoping for at least 3 reviews a week - some weeks more some weeks less - we'll see!

*A READING SCHEDULE -- nothing strict but I have a pretty good system that I started last month and so far it's helping me get in tons of reading :)

*ONE spreadsheet and ONE notebook to organize my reading / reviewing - not 4 or 5 like I am currently trying to use

Some NO THANK YOUS for the coming year:
*Reading challenges...not so much as I failed pretty bad in 2011 (see below for more details) Debut Author Challenge for sure but nothing else.

*NO DRAMA -- ok, I don't really need to state this one as I never get involved in blogging / reading / author online drama BUT I'm making a special effort to actually ignore it all this year.

*NO STRESS -- in my reading habits, in my blogging habits - in everything! (woo hoo for trying to eliminate all stress from everything! Who's with me? :)

*NO GUILT -- I don't know about your but when I get behind on things (reading, emailing, getting back to people) I feel so GUILTY about it...and my guilt keeps me from actually getting anything done. A viscous cycle that I'm hoping to break myself out of this year.

Ok so let's see what else I need to wrap up and get myself ready for 2012 book awesomeness...

Challenges in 2011 and 2012
I rocked The Debut Author Challenge in 2011...and pretty much failed every other challenge I challenged myself to! Oops! Here's a more complete look at my failure.
In 2012 I'm only committing to the Debut Challenge. It feels like a bit of a cheat because even without the official challenge (hosted by The Story Siren) I would still read a ton of debuts this year.

Books Read in 2011 and 2012
I read...books... this year :) It's actually hard for me to count them because I kept switching up the way I tallied things though out the year. But Emily, how can you change the way you COUNT? Isn't a simple 1, 2, 3... Well, yeah, for most people it would be but for me, not so much! If you're interested you can see all my wonderful anal retentiveness HERE and I've started my books read in 2012 page HERE.

Places to Find Me
I started blogging in 2009 but it wasn't until 2011 that I really expanded my online presence. For a complete list of places you can find me check out this post. I've also fully updated my sidebar!

Ok folks, I think that's it! 
Hope you all had a Happy New Year and that your 2012 is off to a good start!

4 comments:

  1. Love all that you have to say! The guilt and stress is why I needed to take a break from blogging for a bit! I just needed to re-energize and focus myself.

    And I couldn't agree more with the no challenges. I completely stink at them and then feel guilty! I think I need to do the same with read-a-thons too. I sign up and every time I get a migraine or people insist I go do things with them, so I never get to read!

    I too am going to try a reading schedule to a degree. Not a rigid one! but something that reminds me when I can read!

    I also want to cut down on my Google Reader. I spend way too much time on it!

    Good luck!!!

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  2. I like the no guilt one.

    ALSO so glad I am not the only person who has a review notebook/uses one to organize by reviews. I feel like people look at me like I'm nuts when I say I use a review notebook.

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  3. I totally support having no stress! That's obviously a hard thing to do, but it's really important. Especially when it comes to reading, which is supposed to be a relaxing thing! Good luck :)

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  4. I am with you on the no stress or guilt with blogging this year...that is my goal as well. I just found your blog and am considering partipating in the Netgalley Read-a-Thon. I just have to decide if it would be too much stress!!

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